July 2024

If the weather in June was not a patch on that of last year, with concomitant impacts on the flowering process, the beginning of July is not much better.  Flowering needs to go straight through with plenty of sunshine and no wind – this just is not happening. Instead we have warm days followed by wet, cold ones.

We have a good tours and tastings each Saturday in the month with plenty of fun people showing up. I do wonder sometimes whether what I tell them out in the vines about canopy management etc actually sinks in or are their minds elsewhere – perhaps their tongues are hanging out to get into the tasting room.

 One visitor asked absently if I spent most of my time during the summer watering the vines. The heated wires which run along the fruiting wire are not water pipes but it is an understandable mistake – except that I have told my visitors this fact 5 minutes earlier.  Watering vines: most certainly not: never, ever. That is what their deep root system is for, to push through the flint and chalk and get to water reserves.  Another guest asked if I traditionally wear a beret whilst attending to my vines. I am not a Frenchman, so why would I? Instead, I always turn out in a trilby as a fully-fledged Englishman. Ready to go to the horse races.